fear, fun and filoz: July 2017

Monday, July 31, 2017

Getting into stand-up

I have been surprised to learn from "Designed to Move" by Dr. Joan Vernikos that the recent emphasis on less sitting can be related to the space effort. Vernikos is a scientist who has worked with NASA to verify the effects on astronauts' bodies of being in space. She has several books for the general public on the results.

I have heard of and read about new work that says sitting is being overdone these days. Vernikos found the result of being in outer space, where there is only 1/millionth of Earth's gravity is very similar to many of the body results here on earth that we consider to be "aging". She found that the aging markers came on much more rapidly for astronauts than they do for Earth's typical humans. However, she also found that once the astronauts got a chance to move and work in Earth's gravity, they recovered.

For astronauts and others who want to avoid many of the physical deteriorations of aging, Vernikos has direct, simple advice: Stand up.

Standing up often is what matters, not how long you remain standing.

Vernikos, Joan. Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death -- and Exercise Alone Won't (Kindle Location 799). Linden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Our bodies don't work quite the way many of us believe.

At seminars, I like to ask my audiences how much and how often they exercise. Like me, they have been indoctrinated with the idea that the more exercise you do the better.

Vernikos, Joan. Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death -- and Exercise Alone Won't (Kindle Locations 808-809). Linden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Dr. Vernikos has two books relevant to the inactivity, immobility problem: "Sitting Kills, Movement Heals" and "Designed to Move". Both are less than $8.00 as Kindle downloads. Both are about the value of light regular movement all day long, not the usual gym exercises. I recommend both of them as new and valuable writing on a subject I thought was shallow and boring but is new, exciting and applicable today.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Hungry?

A few months ago, Amazon suggested the book "Bright Line Eating". I have read quite a bit on diet and foods so I recognized a good writer with an open attitude in Susan Peirce Thompson. I didn't read very far before learning that she has a PhD in neuropsychology, a web site and runs camps and other things to help those who need to lose weight. She writes well and knowingly. She explains her own story of too much snacking, too much of the wrong stuff. She considers herself a food addict and she has a short quiz on her site to evaluate the propensity of food addiction in others.

I didn't have a lot of weight to lose but in two months of following her four rules, I have lost about 8 lbs. Her rules are

No added sugar
No flour of any kind
Three meals a day on time every day
Weigh the food or use a small full plate once with each meal

In 2016, we learned of the 5:2 diet, also called the fasting diet. We tried it for several months, not so much to lose weight as to experience it. We had watched Dr. Mark Mattson on YouTube and learned of the brain and body benefits of going light on food for two non-consecutive days a week.

http://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2016/02/highlights-of-fasting.html

"Going light" usually means 500 calories on the fasting days for women and 600 for men. Lynn likes to skip breakfast and lunch and eat all her calories at dinner on fasting days. I like to eat lightly at the usual times. I don't get very hungry that way. It is like my body doesn't count calories but wants food at the right time.

I read all of Susan Thompson's book and found the details way too much. Food diary, expected foods and other rules. I wanted to stick to the main four rules itemized above until I got squarely down to an arbitrary weight I thought I could make. As no added sugar and no flour have dragged on, I get impatient and have a little of this and some of that. Many days, I am less than 1 lb. from my target. With a little more sense than I muster, I would forget about the experiment but I am too stubborn.

Soon, I plan to read "The I-Diet" by the professor of nutrition, Susan Roberts and see what that is like. Thus do we old guys pass the time.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Fwd: Science News Weekly Alert

Several articles might be of interest. - Bill

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: News from Science: Weekly Headlines <alerts@aaas.sciencepubs.org>
Date: Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 5:01 AM
Subject: Science News Weekly Alert